In repsonse to a query, I today trialled a gluten free boiled fruit cake. It is virtually indistinguishable from the cake made from wheat flour. You could use it as a fruit pudding for one meal and then eat the rest sliced as a cake.
If you don’t want to include the alcohol, just substitute fruit juice or the same amount of extra water.
Gluten Free Boiled Fruit Cake
If you need to be dairy free, substitute one of the dairy free margarines for the butter in tis recipe.
375g mixed dried fruit
1 cup sugar
125g butter, diced
1 cup water
¼ cup whisky, brandy or sherry
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
3 eggs, whisked
1 cup gluten free plain flour
1 cup gluten free self raising flour
Grease a 20cm round, deep sided cake tin and line base with baking paper, grease again.
Place the dried fruit, sugar, butter, water, whisky, cinnamon, nutmeg and bicarbonate of soda in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a bare simmer and cook for one minute.
Remove from heat and allow to cool. Mix in the eggs and fold in the combined flours. Pour into prepared tin and bake at 150°C for 1¼ hours or until a metal skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Allow cake to cool in tin, then turn out and store in an airtight container.
sallywise.com.au 
Cant wait to try this G F boiled fruit cake . Just found your site when looking for a fruit cake to make for Christmas .
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Gluten free boiled fruit cake is the best , do you think I could add a can of crushed pineapple .
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It would certainly be worth trying the addition of a can of crushed pineapple. You would need to drain it well. I think it would make the cake even nicer.
Regards
Sally
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I am curren.tly making this cake but have used a can of crushed pineapple in place f the water. its smelling divine cant wait to bake it in the morning. im making it for a Christmas cake
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I am currently making this cake and using crushed pineapple in place of the water I also added walnuts. Smelling divine cant wait to cook it in the morning. Its our christmas cake this year
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I have made this cake several times . It is absolutely delicious.
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Can you please tell me the keeping time of this cake
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It will keep for several days at least. If you brush the outside of the cake all over with brandy, this will extend its shelf life to about 3 weeks.
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Sounds great. Just a question please…..how long does the cake stay fresh?
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About a week, more if brushed al over with brandy.
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Question . Will icing the cake keep it longer?
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Depends what sort of icing – Christmas style fondant plus marzipan, definitely.
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This fruit cake is to die for and so very very easy. I think it is far better with the whiskey though than other things. I add walnuts and cherries as I love them makes no difference I add them at the mix in stage. The recipe is very clear and I make it in a 7″ square tin so I can cut it in four and freeze it. Thank you so much for sharing
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wanting to try this. Can I use multi grain flour?
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Yes you can, but only use half the proportion of multigrain in the final bread mix. Keep the other half as plain flour as it may well be too heavy otherwise. You could try gradually increasing the proportion of multi-grain after that. Regards, Sally
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Hi Sally
Could I use a cup of almond meal to replace one of the cups of GF flour?
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Yes, you surely could.
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Hi Sally I am a bit late with this question but my daughter has just discovered she can’t eat gluten. Can your recipe be made into cupcake size and if so how long would you cook them for. Many thanks Leanne
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Hi Leanne – yes, definitely she can. They will need to be cooked for about 15 minutes, perhaps 20 – depends on your oven and the size of the cupcakes.
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How do you keep gluten free Christmas cake fresh. How long will it keep.
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Hi Marilyn – I brush it all over with whisky or brandy, leave it to air dry, then wrap in baking paper and finally in foil.
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I wonder how it would with an an extra egg a tad more bi carb and almond flr mixed with coconut flr just need to practice quanities let you know how i go
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Just made this – added a bit more sherry – and the texture is beautiful – moist and very tasty – delicious cake – lovely with a small piece of cheddar as well
I added the extra sherry as I found the texture a little dry and crumbly the first time
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Whisky is wheat based so not gluten free!!!! Brandy (grapes) yes whisky NO!
It is either GF or it is not if it matters to someone who must have GF
Please get details right – do not rely on “customer” knowledge – some people believe what they read
If they are casual GF then it does nto matter but you do not want diarrhea on Christmas Day! Thank you
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Thanks for your comment. However, I have it on good authority that whisky is gluten free because t has been distilled. I quote for instance from the booklet “Coeliac Australia Ingredients List 9th edition”: “Distilled spirits are acceptable for people following a gluten free diet. Although some spirits may be produced from wheat, rye or barley, they undergo a distillation process that ensures protein (gluten) is not carried over into into the final product.” Further: “The colour of……spirits may be enhanced by the addition of caramel colour. Although caramel colour can sometimes, but not always be, derived from wheat starch it always tests as gluten free.”
In the ingredients listing pages (specifically page 46 if the same booklet) whisky (rye, malt or Scotch) are all listed as gluten free.
I am a member of the Coeliac Society and so always keep up to date with my research. Having a daughter who has Coeliac Disease, I am especially careful to avoid any ingredient at all that may contain gluten. To do otherwise would be irresponsible.
As I said, I appreciate your query and hope my reply has provided some clarification on this matter. Sally
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Just wanted you to know I use rum for the fruit cake, an old family recipe and I am trying the gluten free option for a friend. Thank you for this information!
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A pleasure Jude. Sally
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Moist and tasty, love it…but my fruit all went to the bottom, I don’t know what I did wrong
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No sure why that happened. Next time you make it, try tossing the fruit in a little gluten free flour, just enough to coat it, before adding to the mixture. Regards, Sally
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Made this last night and added a few extra slurps of sherry as per some suggestions. I should have left it in for a little longer, but it was still beautiful! Moist and so tasty, you really couldn’t tell it apart from a non gf cake. I served it warm with pouring cream for dessert and it was a big hit. Thank you so much for this recipe Sally – it will be used often.
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Hi Annabella – so pleased you like the recipe. It’s very popular in our household too. Extra sherry is always good! Best wishes, Sally
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Thank you Sally for your fruit cak recipe I use port in stead of sherry work well ,I made one for a wedding cake for six GF guests & we had to fight to get a piece it was very popular. Thanks again Lenette Hall
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Absolutely a pleasure Lenette. So pleased you all enjoyed it. Sally
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Hi Sally, just love your fruit cake. Easy to following instructions. As I don’t have alcohol in the house, I used orange juice instead. I think it is fine. Thank you.
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Have just made this. Threw in zest of one orange and used dark rum instead oh whisky or brandy. And poked holesin post baking, and tipped over 1/2 a cup of dark rum. So far so good.
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Excellent! Should taste amazing!
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Hi Sally
I am wanting a GF fruitcake that will last longer than 3 weeks. Could it be kept longer – 5 to 6 weeks
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Hi Rhonda – you could extend its keepability by pricking with a metal skewer and brushing over with rum, brandy or whisky (about 2 tablespoons), leave to air dry then cover. Repeat this is 3 days’ time. Wrap in baking paper, then foil and refrigerate. This will extend its shelf life.
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